Provided your name is on the voter roll, Soliai assures you can still vote with proper ID

Registered voters, whose names are on the voter roll for this year’s general election, but who have lost or misplaced their Voter ID can still cast their ballot next Tuesday if they can provide proof of identity at the polling station, says Chief Election Officer Soliai Tuipine Fuimaono.

Voters who have lost their voter ID or whose ID has expired have until 4 p.m. next week Monday to come in to get a replacement or a new one.

However, if the voter is unable to make it by the close of business next Monday, or the person discovers on election day that he or she does not have in their possession their voter ID, Soliai said election officials will accept certain documents as proof — as long as the elector is on the voter roll.

Documents needed are: a valid U.S. passport along with social security card; or the green birth certificate issued by the ASG Office of Vital Statistics, a government issued picture ID (such as the local driver’s license) and social security card. Soliai said names on all these documents must match the name on the voter roll.

“These are the documents required by law and this is an option to ensure that all registered voters go to the polls in this year’s general election,” said Soliai, who again urged voters to vote this year.

Soliai’s comments come amid queries to Samoa News from electors wanting to know if they can still vote on election day, if they can’t find their voter ID card. In the 2010 election, Soliai allowed voters without voter ID to cast ballots as long as they met the document proof requirement.

Soliai also reminded all voters, whose voter IDs are still awaiting pick up at the election office, to please do so as soon as possible. He said there were a lot of people who showed up Tuesday this week to pick up their voter ID.

VOTER STATS

At the close of voter registration on Oct. 9, there were 17,774 names on the voter roll for the 2012 general election and there is hope from among the leaders of the territory that a large majority — or everyone, for that matter — will vote this year.

The new ASG Statistical Yearbook 2011 released recently by the Commerce Department provides some data for past election years and specific data for the 2008 and 2010 election. Data includes breakdown by age, village, county and other statistics.

According to the summary, there were 16,124 people who registered to vote in the 2008 election, a drop of 4% compared to the 2008 election which registered 16,780 voters. Although this many people registered to vote in the 2008 and 2010 elections, only 68% and 74% actually voted in the two general elections respectively.

It also says that Tualauta county cast the most votes (14%) in the 2010 election followed by Ituau county with 13.4% in the same election. (Tualauta is the most populous county in the territory)

According to the data, in the 2010 election, the majority of registered voters were between the ages of 18 and 34 (47.6%). About 23.8% of registered voters were between the ages of 35 and 49. The 65 and over age group had the least registered voters with 10.2%, while the 50-64 age group made up 18.5% of registered voters.

It also says that a total of 7,508 males (46.6%) registered to vote while 8,616 females (53.4%) registered to vote in the 2010 election. The highest number of registered voters by village is Nu’uuli with 1,572 in 2010.

The Election Office provided the data for the 2011 statistical yearbook.

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